Brady downplays knee injury

The Sports Xchange

The SportsXchange•August 19, 2013

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke publicly about his knee injury for the first time Monday, saying it was not a big deal. Brady's left knee was hurt during practice last Wednesday, but returned to practice Thursday and played Friday's preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 36-year-old told Boston radio station 93.7 WEEI on Monday that he "felt bad it caused more of a media story than it actually was," according to ESPNBoston.com. Brady said the injury was never considered serious but decided to leave practice after meeting with coach Bill Belichick and members of the medical staff "We were just trying to be smart," Brady said. The Patriots and Buccaneers held joint practices last week. Brady was injured when Bucs defensive end Adrian Clayborn accidentally pushed Patriots left tackle Nate Solder into Brady after he threw a pass during a scrimmage. He said the injury drew more attention than it deserved because it happened during a public practice. A video of the play went viral after a fan captured it from the end-zone bleachers. "There were a lot of people at practice that were witnessing," Brady said. "If that was a Wednesday or Thursday practice during the regular season, you'd probably never hear about it. "But it's obviously the nature of Twitter and all that social-media stuff. But it happens on the practice field, it happens on the game field, you see so many injuries that have happened over the course of the preseason." Brady wore a knee brace during practice Thursday. Friday, Brady completed 11 of 12 passes with an interception in the Patriots' 25-21 victory over the Bucs. Some may have wondered why Brady was even playing in a preseason game and risking injury, but he said it was important to play to prepare for the season. "There's risk of injury in practice, there's risk of injury driving down to the stadium in the morning," he said. "It's your only game prep. I haven't taken a hit in eight months. It's just hard to say, 'Let's just see what we have against Buffalo.' You've got to put it in, you've got to see where you're at in terms of game speeds, in terms of reads. Things are different in a game." The Patriots open the regular season Sept. 8 at the Buffalo Bills. Their next preseason game is Thursday at the Detroit Lions.